The Chronicle: Socio-economic impact of the tortoise-like services at banks

Time, they say, is money. This expression came from Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States of America.

Franklin wrote in a book in 1748 titled “Remember that time is money”, which meant that in order to earn money, one must act and, therefore, use one’s time (which is not infinite judiciously).

This adage, which is over two and half centuries old, is still relevant in the current human dispensation and appears to have resonated well, and arguably, formed part of the endeavours of the developed nation.

It is common knowledge that in other parts of the world, time is known and acknowledged as a precious commodity that is used to generate money and moves nation forward.

However, in many developing countries, including Ghana, time is least respected in all facets of human endeavours.

In the largely unregulated informal sector, time is abused with impunity. In the formal sector, where one would have wished to feel and experience greater respect for time to improve and maximize productivity, the situation is no different.

As far as worrying phenomenon is concerned, we, at The Chronicle, would like to limit ourselves to a growing concern that is witnessed on a monthly basis in the banking hall.

We have observed with grave concern the situation where precious time is wasted during the period when salaries of workers are paid, which usually spans from the last week of the month to the first week of the following month.

A visit to any of the traditional banks where most government workers receive their salaries paints a gloomy picture of how pensioners, the aged, and people in active service jostle for space to visit the counter.

Worryingly, teachers, health workers and even, security men in their uniforms, often skip duty and quickly dash off to banks, with the hope of withdrawing their paid salaries and returning quickly.

However, they are mostly met with unimaginable queues that often cause them to spend the rest of their productive periods at the banks without returning to post.

Very often, this situation leads to human congestion in the banking halls, which often results in needless prostestations, anxiety, and confrontations among customers.

In view of this, we, at The Chronicle, would like to call on the regulators of the banking industry to, as a matter of urgency, see this situation as a major setback that affects productivity and leads to loss of money.

We would, therefore, like to implore the banks in the country to consider moving towards the modern era of technology, where bank transactions are done electronically. These banks must vigorously activate all available systems that would lead to total electronic banking across the country.
E-banking, according to Mols, is the automated delivery of new and traditional banking products and services directly to customers through the electronic medium.

In Ghana, forms of electronic banking may include the automated teller machine, the use of credit cards, and the interoperability system, which allows customers to transact banking businesses through their smart phones.

With the influx of modern day technology, this should not be too difficult to be actualized. We view this modern innovation to be the panacea to the amount of time customers waste in queues in the banking halls.

Additionally, the banks must embark on vigorous campaigns that would explain the benefits of electronic banking to their customers, so that they would appreciate its importance and embrace it.

This is because if e-electronic banking is readily made aware of the numerous services that they come with, it would reduce the traditional human to human contacts at the banks.

We strongly believe that the quest of the country to move forward can be achieved if time is used judiciously and expeditiously.

It is high time the scenario where precious time is wasted in queues at the banks was stemmed to improve productivity.
Time indeed, is money!